But one song keeps coming to mind as the perfect song about Florida... or at least the perfect song about what Florida has become. Far too much of this, and not enough of this. I've driven through some of the area described in that last article in the last few years, and I can tell you that as recently as 30 years ago places in what's now the massive suburban sprawl of Orlando used to be less developed than the area in that article is now. Give it another 30 years, and that'll be gone too. Since all of this is being caused by people from other places moving here, I figure I may as well grab a song about someplace else to repesent Florida. It'll make the new neighbors feel more at home. So the perfect song about Florida is, naturally, a song about Ohio....

I went back to OhioBut my city was goneThere was no train stationThere was no downtownSouth Howard had disappearedAll my favorite placesMy city had been pulled downReduced to parking spacesA, o, where did you go Ohio

Well I went back to OhioBut my family was goneI stood on the back porchThere was nobody homeI was stunned and amazedMy childhood memoriesSlowly swirled pastLike the wind through the treesA, o, oh way to go Ohio

My wife and I have been watching and enjoying House since it first aired. ("Aired"? Yet another anachronism for the digital age.) However, there has been one issue that has always bugged me to distraction: Gregory House, MD and super-genius continues you use his cane in the wrong hand! This has annoyed me to no end. (Which is a curious turn of phrase, although it makes sense when parsed.)

But in the 11/21 episode "Whac-A-Mole" (which I just saw tonight), the issue is addressed! House is having pain in his right, cane-wielding shoulder, and so he sees a physical therapist for relief. The therapy is causing him pain which causes him to say, "OOOOW! I hire you to take away the pain. Is there some confusion?" She immediately retorts, "Ever thought about using your cane on the proper side?"

This still doesn't explain why he refuses to use his cane properly, but at least they've addressed the issue! I can sleep easier now.

Bonus: Whac-A-Mole is a registered trademark of BOB'S SPACE RACERS, INC., which is based right here in sunny Central Florida.

"We can smell in it the attitude of James Baker," Talabani said, referring to the report's co-chair who served as secretary of state under President George H. W. Bush during the 1991 Iraq war.

Talabani blamed Baker for leaving then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in power after that conflict, which ousted Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

He also criticized the report for recommending a law that would allow thousands of former officials from Hussein's ousted Baath party to serve in Iraqi government posts.

...

"As a whole, I reject this report," Talabani said.

"I think that Baker-Hamilton is not fair, is not just, and it contains some very dangerous articles which undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and the constitution[.]"

Meanwhile, the Syria's ruling party seems to really like the report:

The United States will face hatred and failure in the Middle East if the White House rejects the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, Syria warned on Sunday, according to The Associated Press. Syria's ruling party's Al-Baath newspaper urged President Bush to take the group's report seriously because it would "diminish hatred for the U.S. in region," AP reported.

Added: Perhaps this should have been another entry in the "Stating the Obvious" series.

Later: Iran is down with the Baker-Hamilton plan, too. When your enemies are good with a plan, and your allies are against it, perhaps the plan isn't so good. Alternately, maybe we should switch sides. Yeah, that's the ticket....

Monday, December 04, 2006

Amadeus is not about Mozart, it's about Salieri. Or rather, it's about a mythical Salieri. F. Murray Abraham creates a first rate performance as the patron saint of mediocrities. Abraham has a long list of credits to his name, and we all know that Practice makes perfect.

Earlier my wife and I were discussing the economics of college football. This conversation resulted in me realizing something that should have been blindingly obvious, yet which had alluded me all these years.

We both went to the University of Florida in Gainesville, which is (partially and correctly) known as something of a party school, along with its other many fine attributes. When we started there, UF had approximately 43,000 students. Now that number is closer to 50,000. As is typical of college students, they tend to drink and carouse... a lot. Thus the party school image.

The students reside at UF throughout the school year, of course, and thus drink and carouse year round. However, the bars and restaurants make over 60% of their revenue during eight magical weekends a year, when the University of Florida football team plays its home games. Now, the students don't drink that much more than normal on those weekends.

So what does this mean? That the alumni drink WAY more than the students.